Summer Days
by BittersweetSummer
Summary: She didn’t know why she took the job. Maybe it was to get away from her meddling family. Maybe it was her means of escaping. Whatever reason it was, she was glad that she took the risk. Rose finds love in unexpected places. A Scorpius/Rose oneshot.


_**DISCLAIMER**__**: I do not own Harry Potter… -sobs hysterically-**_

_**--  
**_

**Summer Days**

She didn't know why she took the job. Maybe it was to get away from her meddling family. Maybe it was her means of escaping from her hectic life. Whatever reason it was, she was glad that she took the risk. She never regretted it.

It wasn't anybody's dream job. It wasn't spectacular. The wages were pitiful. But she loved doing it. She could escape from her overprotective family, her steadily piling homework, and most of all, the annoying boyfriend who just refused to stop sending her those stupid letters that she always chucked into the garbage can. She thought that he would get the hint by now.

Men were pigs, she vowed to herself. No more boyfriends for her. Not at this point in her life.

She felt hopelessly lost. She simply didn't know what to do with her life from this point on. Dammit, she was sixteen and almost out of Hogwarts. She should know what she wanted.

But she didn't. That was what was bothering her.

At first, her family thought that she was crazy, getting a job at a small Muggle diner. She remembered their complaints and other "more satisfying" job offers (most of them unsurprisingly from the Ministry). She reassured them that it was only for one summer, and that she just wanted a taste of Muggle life. She needed the money, and could always trade it in at Gringotts.

They didn't understand, of course, being the utterly clueless, yet strangely comforting family that they were. She remembered her mother giving her searching looks, her father staring at her as if he didn't know who she was anymore.

Frankly, she didn't know who she was either.

Her family was concerned, of course, but seemed conclude that it was just a phase. A fit of hormones.

They no longer saw the fiery, vivacious girl who would tease and laugh with them, and play with her younger cousins. The girl who would spend hours riding on her broom, staring into the sunset. They now saw a pale imitation of the girl that they used to know. The girl that they still loved and cared about, nevertheless.

She still cared about them, of course. They were her flesh and blood. Her own family. But during the course of the school year, she found herself losing bits and pieces of herself. She didn't know what was happening, of course. Maybe it was just a bout of depression. Whatever it was, she doubted that the Healers at St. Mungos would have a cure for that.

--

During her first few weeks on the job, there were moments when she wondered why she took the job offer in the first place. There was that time when she tripped and spilling a steaming pot full of coffee down her shirt. Or when the group of grungy construction workers were commenting on her arse. But these moments, like all other awkward and embarrassing moments, would come to pass.

She enjoyed the chaos of the diner. The busy kitchen, bustling even when there were less than five people in the restaurant. The never-ending work, which kept her busy throughout the mealtimes, with hardly any time to think. The long hours before the crowds came, when she would curl up in a booth and read a book.

Sometimes her dad or one of her uncles would drop in during their lunch break, and she would talk to them for a while, if she wasn't busy. She appreciated the kind gesture, even if the motive was to keep on eye on her. They were her family after all. They would always be there for her.

After a while, she started recognizing faces and names. These people were the regulars, who would always greet her with a friendly, "Hullo there Rosie," as soon as they walked in.

There was this young man who came in every day, rain or shine, alone. Always alone. He never talked to anybody, and ordered the same thing every day. Coffee and a muffin. On particularly bad days for him (and she could tell just by looking at his expression) he would have apple pie. And every day, he would bring in a book, and read while sipping from his coffee mug. It was a different book every day. Rose, being an avid reader herself, wondered how he found the time to finish a new book every day. After about thirty minutes, he would stand up and head for the door, leaving his money on the table, with a sizable tip (which she was always pleased about.)

She had a feeling that she'd seen him before. But at the moment, she couldn't figure out who he was. It always slipped from her mind, and she was dying with curiosity.

She loved observing him when he was unaware of her. His white-blond hair fell into his eyes constantly, and he brushed them away with his long white fingers. He had an angular face, with wide gray eyes and long eyelashes. When he smiled (which wasn't that often,) she realized that he had dimples. Excellent.

On some days (particularly lucky days for her,) he wore his shirt rolled up to his elbows, exposing his pale, muscular forearms. She had no idea why she found that so… alluring, since she had seen James or Albus do it countless times. "It's for the ladies, they love it." James had said, and had thrown her a cocky smirk and a wink. Albus had just shrugged. It was a guy thing, she decided. And, feeling ashamed of herself as she admitted it, James was right. She had never thought that she would be saying that. Ever.

She was fascinated with him. No, _obsessed_. She had never felt that way before. Never, in all of her sixteen years, had she ever let a male have any influence over her. One summer, and that rule was broken. She wondered what would happen next. Her mom turning stupid? The Weasleys having brown hair? Or maybe, heaven forbid, her cousin Lily being _quiet_. She didn't want to dream and get her hopes up.

The blond (who was pretty close to her age, she was guessing) had control over her already, and she hadn't even talked to him.

_Yet_.

--

One particularly rainy day, the mystery man stormed into the diner, amid several questioning glances (especially from a curious redhead) and slammed into a booth near the window.

Rose, knowing that this indeed, _was_ a bad day for him, told the waitress to let her serve him, since lunch hour wouldn't be coming for a couple of hours. She brought him a big slice of warm apple pie and a cup of hot coffee.

He stared at her, surprised.

"You looked like you were having a bad day," she said in response to his unspoken question, smiling at him. Not the fake, overly-cheery smile that she gave to the others. A genuine Rose Weasley smile, the one that she rarely gave to anybody, save for her family.

He smiled softly in response, and thanked her for the kind gesture. Rose gathered up her courage (she was a Griffindor after all) and asked him what was wrong.

"Family issues," he responded vaguely, waving his hand as if it were nothing important. Rose sensed that it really _was _important, seeing the stormy look in his gray eyes. Of course she didn't believe him.

"Hmm." She murmured, her blue eyes showing him that she didn't believe a word he said.

He smirked, and she jerked in surprise, finally realizing who he was.

Scorpius Malfoy.

Of course.

Just bloody excellent.

"Malfoy?" she whispered incredulously.

His eyes widened at the use of his last name, and inspected her closely. He started as he read her name tag.

"Weasley," he said, shocked.

Rose was mentally whacking herself in the head multiple times. _Of course _it was Malfoy, the stupid Slytherin git. Only _he _smirked like that. She had _never_ felt like more of an idiot. Rose Weasley, top of her class, daughter of _Hermione Granger_, had been looking at this bloke all summer, and hadn't realized that he went to her bloody _school_. She really was losing herself.

Of course, they didn't really talk to each other during their whole six years at Hogwarts. She dimly remembered her dad warning her about him, and her stubborn, eleven-year-old self had decided to ignore him throughout her school years. Apparently, he had done exactly the same thing.

_Man_, this was awkward.

Then she realized something.

"Scorpius _Malfoy_, Pureblood extraordinaire, in a _Muggle_ diner?!?" she said to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Rose _Weasley,_ Miss I'm-Better-Than-Everybody, working in a _diner_?" he retaliated, smirking that trademark Malfoy smirk, which was probably imprinted into his pea-sized brain at birth.

They both stared at each other, dumbstruck, their mouths open. Rose then noticed that they were attracting quite a lot of attention throughout the diner.

"Explain why _you, _of all people, have come to a Muggle diner every day for the past couple of months." She said to him, her voice lowering considerably.

"Well, explain why _you_, Miss Goody Two Shoes, are working in a diner, and as a waitress no less," He sputtered back indignantly.

"Well, it's very relaxing," she replied hotly, choosing to ignore his laugh, "Oh shut up, you know what I mean. I just felt like… Escaping, you know? Like the world was moving too fast for me, and I needed a place where I could start over. This seemed like a good place to me."

To her immense surprise, his eyes softened, and he had on a sympathetic smile.

"Having a hard time too? Same as me."

She felt a rush a relief, an emotion that she hadn't felt for weeks. No, months.

_Finally_, someone understood. They knew what it was like to feel… Lost. Incomplete. Lonely.

She smiled at him for the second time that day, nodding earnestly.

Rose never thought that she would hear the next few words come out of his mouth.

"Sit down with me. Let's talk."

--

A few weeks later, she was scrambling to get to work on time, eager to leave the house. To see _him_. And she had no doubt that he wanted to see her too.

It was pouring outside, exactly like the day that she had first met him in the diner. She took it as an omen. _Something_ was going to happen today.

She called goodbye to Hugo and her mum and dad in the kitchen, and ran out the door. Her mum and dad exchanged smiles with each other, finally seeing bits and pieces of their old Rosie coming back.

When she got to the diner, she waved to her fellow employees, and got to work, keeping an eye out for a head of platinum blond hair.

She was not disappointed. She gave him a huge smile, and led him to _their_ booth, by the window.

He smiled back at her, and she felt a strange swooping feeling in her stomach, and blushed. Did she eat something weird this morning?

They conversed, as usual. They never ran out of things to talk about, strangely. She always enjoyed talking with him. He provided an excellent opinion to any problems that happened, and usually came up with a very good solution.

He seemed disgruntled by her boyfriend problems though, and advised her to dump the "miserable old prat who won't know what he's missing."

She valued his opinion greatly, almost more than her mum, who gave the best advice in the world.

Surprising how much she could trust a guy within a few weeks.

Surprising how easy it was to fall for said guy in the same time span.

"I like your hair when it's down," he said suddenly, "It's pretty,"

She stared at him curiously, noticing that his ears were slowly turning red.

She had forgotten to put her stupid curly hair up in a messy bun like she always did before work. In her hurry this morning, she hadn't realized that until she got a halfhearted scolding from her boss.

Rose felt strangely flattered at his compliment. A foreign emotion coursed through her body, and she felt… happy, for once.

She panicked when Scorpius started getting up, probably to run out of the diner, from the look on his face.

That's exactly what he did.

Before she knew it she was sprinting after him, chasing him across the street, through the rain, until she caught up to him, and grabbed his arm.

"Rose-" he whispered sorrowfully, about to explain, but before he could, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

She kissed him.

Deeply.

She felt an overwhelming, crackling energy when their lips met. The air started getting thicker around their joined bodies, and her skin was burning wherever he touched her. It was electric.

And she could have _sworn_ that he was kissing her too…

Rose crushed herself against his body, feeling the hard muscles through his wet shirt, and for a second, she thought that he trembled against her… For a few blissful seconds (or possibly several hours) they remained embraced, and she reluctantly broke away from him, feeling nervous about his reaction.

He was looking at her the same way that she had seen her dad look at her mum, or Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny. With tenderness, possibly _love_. She felt her heart increase its tempo, pounding in her ears as he stared at her.

It took a while to figure out that she was staring at him the same way.

He wordlessly gestured to her to take his hand, which she did gladly.

In the back of her mind, she was dimly aware that they would have to tell their parents about their relationship sooner or later, but she brushed aside that worry for now.

She only felt his warm hand pulling her along as they raced back to the diner, amid curious glances (and possibly some smiles) from passerby. She laughed along with him, admiring his profile in the rain as they ran across the street to the place where fate had unexpectedly dumped them together when they needed each other the most.

She only had one thought on her mind.

_This is going to be an interesting school year._

_--  
_

_**Much love and a sopping wet Scorpius Malfoy to hug in the rain,**_

_**-BittersweetSummer-  
**_


End file.
